Retrieval Saga:
A Chance of a Ghost
Chapter 7: Dracopyre Hunt
As the Specter Speeder went deeper into the Ghost Zone, the search party inside was keeping an eye out for any signs of Ghoulwyrm. "You'd think an alien chimera made by demonic necromancy would be easy to find," said Tucker. "Uh, one undead creature among all these ghosts?" said Sam skeptically. "Good point." "Don't worry guys," said Danny, "If the Infi-Map can locate any ghost in the Ghost Zone, I'm sure it'll find Ghoulwyrm." "By the way," said Draco, "you never said what this Frostbite was like." "Oh, he's nice, honorable, but likes it cold." "How cold are we talking about?" asked Chip.
"Eh, about that cold," Danny pointed out the window to the tundra coming up. "Wait a minute," said Draco, "Ice? Nobody said anything about ice." "Isn't Frostbite that good enough of a hint?" asked Tucker. "Uh-uh, no way, I am not going out there." "What's his problem?" asked Sam. "Draco has cryophobia," explained Chip. "He's afraid of tears?" asked Danny. "No, he's afraid of coldness, don't they teach you kids entomology anymore?" "Hey!" said Draco, "it's not my fault I'm cold-blooded. I am not stepping one foot onto that tundra." "Okay," said Danny, "nobody's forcing you. We'll just stop by, ask for the Infi-Map, and find Ghoulwyrm. You can stay here while we get the map." "Fine by me," said Draco, "but before you go, where are the extra blankets?"
"Wait a minute," said Danny, "what's that?" 'That' was a large spaceship floating near the Tundra. Chip extended his eye somewhat like a telescope and he said, "Don't worry, it has the CPS brand on it. Maybe Matt and the gang came to help. But who's that little kid on top?" "What?" said Sam. Chip activated a small viewing screen on the back of his head to let the others see what he was seeing. They could that on top of the ship was a small boy wearing an astronaut's suit. "Oh, that's just Youngblood," said Danny, "he's just a brat that hates adults and can't be seen by them."
Chip was also capable of picking up what Youngblood was saying and activated a small pair of audio speakers near the viewing screen. Youngblood's voice came through clear as a bell, "Space aliens beware! Captain Youngblood, the Ghost Zone's greatest space explorer is off to chart unexplored planets!" Suddenly the panel he was on flipped open as a hatch door was opened. Youngblood fell off the ship and onto the Speeder's windshield. "Hi Youngblood," said Tucker as Youngblood slowly fell off, "bye Youngblood."
Chris stuck his head through the hatch and yelled, "Hey! Who's making the racket up here?" "Hi Chris!" called Morph, sticking his head out the door. Chris rubbed his eyes and said, "Morph? Is that you?" "Us too!" called Draco. "Where have you guys been?" "It's a very long story. Short version is that Ghoulwyrm's back and we need to find him so he can cure someone he bit." "Well, Matt and some of the others went down to the Tundra, maybe they can help," said Chris, "I have to stay here and fix this thing. Those guys trashed everything."
Soon afterwards, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Chip, and Morph were outside, trudging through the thick snow. Well, everyone except Danny who could float over the snow. The five of them soon reached Frostbite's village. Their presence was quickly announced and Frostbite came to greet them. "It is always an honor to have the Ghost Zone's Savior visit our humble village," said Frostbite "especially after he saved the Ghost Zone twice. Who are your new servants?" "Uh, they're actually aliens from another world," said Danny, "and we need the…" "Oh, of course," interrupted Frostbite, "they've come here to see their companions right?" "What?" asked Chip and Morph. "Follow me," said Frostbite.
They were led to the medical lab where several people were being held in the suspension chambers. One of them looked like a blue koala with bat-like ears. The others were humans, one being a little Hawaiian girl, three being men, and one a woman. It was a bit awkward since the humans were only clad in their underwear. "Is that really necessary?" asked Danny as he covered his eyes. "Well, we wouldn't want their clothes to get soggy, would we? Besides, their clothing needed to be defrosted."
The voices woke up one of the men in the chamber, the one with black hair and an armband on his right arm. "Hi Matt," said Chip and Morph. "Chip! Morph! Where have you been? Where are we? Who are all these guys? Where are my clothes?" "It's a bit of a long story," said Chip, "I think we can wait until you're dressed."
After Matt got dressed, Chip told Matt about what happened since the escape pod went through the wormhole. "I hoped we'd seen the last of Ghoulwyrm," said Matt. "So were we," said Danny, "but we got to find him so he cure my sister." "I know exactly how you feel," said Matt, "I'll help too. I wouldn't mind knocking around Ghoulwyrm again. Maybe we'll find that Aragon guy while we're at it." "Aragon?" said Sam, "Prince Aragon?" "That's what he called himself. Then there were his two buddies, a mummy and a knight." "Hotep-Ra?" asked Tucker. "Fright Knight?" asked Danny, "maybe you should tell us about what you've been doing."
The others had been awakened and redressed by then so they were able to tell about the three scientist impersonators. "Odd," said Danny, "all three of those guys are normally solo ghosts. Why would they join each other?" "What?" said Wilson, "those guys were ghosts?" "Uh, yeah, so are me and the Far Frozen here." "Okay, you've got to be pulling my leg," said Techo, "I can believe Ectonurites, they're real enough. But ghosts? How can I believe that?" For an answer, Danny put his hand on Techo's chest and made him intangible. He then lowered him until he was halfway through the floor. "OK! OK! I believe in ghosts! I believe in ghosts!"
Danny pulled Techo back up and said, "Now, if we're going to find Ghoulwyrm, we'll need the Infi-Map." "Can't the Specter Speeder's radar find it?" asked Tucker. "I'm not sure if Ghoulwyrm would count as a real-world item," said Sam, "not to mention he can probably make himself undetectable." Frostbite brought the Infi-Map and opened it. He studied if for a while and then said, "It looks like this creature you seek is in a particular part of the Ghost Zone known as Davy Jones' Locker." "Davy Jones' Locker?" asked Lilo, "isn't that where drowned sailors go?" "That is correct, take the Map with you. It'll find the safest route to the Locker." Danny took the Infi-Map and said, "Look after the others in their ship. We'll track down Ghoulwyrm."
The Specter Speeder was a bit more cramped now that it had seven more passengers. Nevertheless, the group was rapidly moving through the Ghost Zone. "I wonder why Ghoulwyrm would want to go to Davy Jones' Locker" asked Draco, "he doesn't look very good at swimming." "I don't think the Locker has just water in it," said Danny, "but you do have a point. There are probably several other places that are better for him." "Whatever his reason, I'm sure we'll get there in time," said Wilson, "so long as nothing slows us down."
Suddenly several missiles came out of nowhere and flew towards the Specter Speeder. Matt took the controls and pulled the Speeder out of the way. Danny phased through the Speeder and blasted the missiles to pieces. "Where did those come from?" asked Talia. "They came from me," said a voice. They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a ghost wearing cybernetic battle armor with green flaming hair and a skull-like face. "Skulker? What are you doing here?" asked Danny. "I'm about to add a very valuable prize to my trophy room: your mounted head." Skulker opened fire on Danny who flew out of the way just in time.
"If only there were some weapons on this thing," muttered Matt. "I could probably install some," said Techo, "but I that'll take time." "No need for that," said Chip, "I've got an idea." He turned on the Speeder's speakers and spoke into it, "Danny, get back here. We don't have any time to wait." "That's your plan?" asked Stitch. Chip shushed him and continued, "We've got a quest to do, we can't waste time fighting with random ghosts."
Skulker paused and said, "Quest? What quest?" "Oh, didn't you hear?" said Chip, "we're going hunting for a dracolich. "Dracolich? I thought those things were extinct." "All but this one. That makes this one super-rare and super-valuable. Truly the jewel in any hunter's trophy room." Skulker looked hesitant and said, "Wait! You might need my help!" "Why would we?" asked Danny, finally catching on to what Chip was trying to do. "I've been tracking in the Ghost Zone for centuries. I'll be able to help you track it. I might even be able to subdue it." "Well, okay, if you insist," said Chip, but he then muttered to the others, "Hook, line, and sinker."
After Skulker joined their group, the trip was rather uneventful. Of course, the Box Ghost popped up and tried unsuccessfully to scare them. The only one he scared was Morph, but only because he never seen him before. Skulker caught the Box Ghost with his net-launcher and kicked him away. But eventually the Infi-Map showed they were very close to the entrance to Davy Jones' Locker. "Okay," said Sam, reading the Map, "the entrance should be across this small group of ecto-asteroids.
The Specter Speeder crossed over the ecto-asteroids and stopped in front of the entrance to Davy Jones' Locker. The entrance was shaped like a giant gym locker with the name 'D. Jones' on it, making the moment rather anti-climatic. "Ghost Zone or not, that is a horrible pun," said Draco. "I hope there aren't any old socks in there," said Wilson. "How will we find Ghoulwyrm in there anyways?" asked Techo. "We could use this," said Chip, holding up a leg of mutton. "Mutton?" asked Tucker. "For some odd reason, Dracons, and by extension creatures with Dracon DNA in them, find it very hard to resist mutton." "That would explain why Draco's drooling on the floor," said Sam.
Suddenly the radar on the dashboard beeped. "Two ghosts approaching from the port side," said Matt. When some of them looked confused, Matt said, "That's left." They looked towards the left to see Prince Aragon and Hotep-Ra floating by the Locker's door. "Well, well," said Aragon, "you were able to recover. Unfortunately for you, you won't be able to do that again." "Out of the way," said Danny, "we've got more important people to deal with than you two." "Ah, you mean our benefactor," said Hotep-Ra, "he has anticipated your disturbance and positioned us here to hold you." "We're not after your benefactor, we're after Ghoulwyrm," said Wilson.
When the two ghosts didn't change expressions, Chip said, "Wait, Ghoulwyrm is your benefactor? How could he persuade you to work for him?" "Well, he shares the same views for Earth as us," said Hotep-Ra, "a planet set back a thousand years or two where superstition rules over mankind without any modern technology." "No way is that gonna happen," said Tucker, "so you losers get out of the way before you blast you away. "Losers?" said Aragon angrily, "have you forgotten I wear the Anarchic Amulet of Aragon?" The Amulet glowed and he changed into his giant dragon form. "Good point," said Matt.
Sam quickly grabbed Draco while Tucker grabbed Chip. "What are you doing?" asked Draco. "Real world stuff passes through everything in the Ghost Zone," said Sam. "You two need to get into the Locker and find Ghoulwyrm." "Why us?" asked Chip. "You have superpowers, you've fought Ghoulwyrm before, you stand a better chance against us," said Tucker as the two were shoved out the door. Stitch picked Morph and tossed him out the door with Draco and Chip. "What did you do that for?" asked Lilo. Stitch shrugged and said, "They go best together."
"Uh, what do we do now?" asked Chip. "Head for the door!" cried Draco as he narrowly avoided a ghostly fire blast from Aragon. He grabbed Chip and Morph and flew towards the door. Danny and Skulker were having trouble following as they were constantly being attacked by the two ghosts. Suddenly two blasts from the Specter Speeder threw Aragon and Hotep-Ra back. "There we go," said Techo after he put the wires back in place, "a set of ghost-blasting blaster fully operational." "Go get Ghoulwyrm," said Matt through the speakers, "we'll take care of these guys." Danny and Skulker flew towards the door as Draco, Chip, and Morph opened it up. Then the five of them went inside.
Davy Jones' Locker was much more impressive-looking on the inside than on the outside. For one thing, it was rather dark, even for the Ghost Zone. Another was that there were hundreds of spectral shipwrecks and floating gravestones. And of course, there was seawater. Strangely enough, it was above them. "Shouldn't that be down here?" asked Draco. "This is Davy Jones' Locker, the bottom of the sea," said Skulker, "what would you expect? Now keep quiet. That dracolich is around here somewhere." He took a closer look at one of the gravestones and said, "Something's disturbed the moss on this, with extremely long and sharp claws." Then he examined black stains on another and said, "By the severity of this burn, it was either really angry when it was breathing fire or really powerful." "Neither is good for us," said Danny.
Finally Skulker looked at some gouges on the rail of a shipwreck and said, "And its hands are strong enough for it to crush part of the haul." "Oh, so close," said a voice. They looked up and saw Ghoulwyrm floating above them. "As you can see, those were made by four claws, which meant they were made by my feet. The same feet that are about to do this." Ghoulwyrm swooped downwards and grabbed Danny's shoulders with his feet. He then swooped around and slammed Danny into a shipwreck, smashing it to splinters. "Truly an impressive display of strength," said Skulker, "now there's a prize worth hunting." He threw a bola at Ghoulwyrm and tied his legs together. Ghoulwyrm simply ripped it apart and said, "You think some ghost rope can hold a dracopyre of my caliber?" "Dracopyre? You told me he was a dracolich." "He's kinda both," said Chip, "is that a problem?" "No, that just makes him more valuable." He activated his jetpack and flew straight into Ghoulwyrm.
The experiments helped Danny get up. "Are you okay?" asked Chip. "Yeah, fine, that guy's a lot stronger than he looks." "That's why Jumba used Draco DNA with me," said Draco. He looked over to where Skulker and Ghoulwyrm were battling and said, "Shouldn't we help him?" "Actually, I think we should let him wear down Ghoulwyrm a bit," said Danny. Suddenly Ghoulwyrm threw Skulker through several rows of gravestones. Skulker got up and yelled, "No abomination's going to beat me!" "Where have I heard that before?" asked Morph. As Skulker flew at Ghoulwyrm again, Ghoulwyrm caught him with his incredibly long arms. "You are most insistent, hunter. Allow me to discriminate that." The lightning rods on his back extended and several thousand bolts of purple electricity surged through Skulker. The overwhelming surge caused the battle suit to shut down. Ghoulwyrm then tossed Skulker through the Locker's door and said, "Now, who's next?"
"That would be you, Glowworm," said Danny as he flew at him. Ghoulwyrm's eyes glowed purple with indignity and yelled, "Don't call me Glowworm! My name is Ghoulwyrm!" He blasted Danny with a purple lightning bolt that sent him careening into some gravestones. Then Ghoulwyrm noticed the experiments coming and said, "I thought there would be more of you. Fortunately, I've prepared." He then somehow managed to snap his very long and sharp fingers. Suddenly there was a whinny and the Fright Knight appeared riding his winged steed, the Nightmare. "Miserable creatures!" shouted the Fright Knight, "prepare to meet thy end!" "Okay, who says 'thy' anymore?" asked Draco. But the three of them retreated to another part of the Locker to do battle with the Fright Knight.
Ghoulwyrm turned to Danny and said, "It looks like it's just you and me now, boy." "I'm only going to say this once," said Danny, "come back with me to Earth so you can cure Jazz." "Ah, having trouble healing the wound up?" said Ghoulwyrm "No, your stupid venom's cursing her and turning her into a werepyre, or something like that." Ghoulwyrm's eyes widened in surprise, "It's actually working? Odd, my venom's normally to unstable to work, unless, that doppelganger, his ectoplasm must have stabilized my venom. How interesting." "Yeah, we figured that out," said Danny, "are you coming or what?" "It would do you no good," said Ghoulwyrm, "even if I wanted to cure your sister, I don't think I could. Her DNA's infused with ectoplasm now, not unlike you. Of course, seeing as I created her, I'll be able to control her, since she has gone into her final stage by now." "That's not gonna happen," said Danny, "I don't know if you are capable of making an antidote, I do know you can treat her. And I'm bringing you home, whether you're willing or not."
He fired a beam of ectoplasmic energy at Ghoulwyrm who smacked it aside with his bandages. "You think you can beat me?" said Ghoulwyrm, "why do you think I came to Davy Jones' Locker in the first place? In this darkness, I can reach my full potential." Suddenly Ghoulwyrm grew slightly larger and a bit more muscular. Spikes sprang out of the back of his hands, his feet, his shoulders, and down his tail. The teeth in his upper mouth became fangs while his lower mouth's fangs grew even sharper. The five tentacles in chest also came out. His claws also grew slightly longer and glowed purple. "Is that supposed to scare me?" asked Danny. "No, this is." The dracolich's tentacles spread apart and he fired a beam of purple energy at Danny. Danny just narrowly avoided it, just as well since the beam vaporized several tombstones.
"Okay, I'll give you that, but can you do this?" Danny fired an icy blast at Ghoulwyrm who countered with his plasma flame. "Head-on attacks? I think you can do better with that." He swiped at Danny who disappeared as he did so. "What?" "I can, it's called distraction." Ghoulwyrm turned to see Danny fired an ice ray at him. This was too fast for Ghoulwyrm to react and he ended up getting hit. Ghoulwyrm screamed in pain, his undead body having no defense against the cold. "Y-y-you'll n-n-need to do b-b-better than that," shivered Ghoulwyrm. "How about this?" said Danny and then he took a deep breath and unleashed his Ghostly Wail. Ghoulwyrm countered with his sonic howl. Green and purple waves of sonic energy overlapped each other and canceled each other because of their slightly opposite soundwaves. "This'll take longer than I thought," thought Danny.
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Matt and his team parked the Speeder and jumped onto several asteroids in front of the Locker portal, blocking Hotep and Aragon from pursuing Danny and co inside. "You want them, you have to go through us," said Techo. Hotep and Aragon just laughed like it was the funniest thing they'd heard all day. Matt clicked a charge into his mass pistol. "Ten points on a good threat, Techo but zero for result," said Matt slowly.
Hotep managed to stop laughing to say. "We let you go last time because you helped us…" he said conjuring up several of his ghost minions to attack the group. This time however the gang was ready. The first ghost minion attacked Talia and regretted it immediately as she fired a pulse round into the ground at its feet, knocking it over before using her stun prod on it (one of the few usable weapons) and kicking it back.
Matt and Chris were dealing with two more minions in similar fashion, using a couple of the spare capture flasks from the Speeder when Aragon swooped down, sending a few fireballs at our heroes and forcing them to scatter for cover. Matt, Chris and Techo ducked behind some rocks as Aragon flew over them, laughing. "We gotta get that amulet off of Aragon before he barbeques us," yelled Chris as some more fireballs just missed their cover. Matt peered out as Techo moaned, "Shame the North Star needed repairs. A few particle blasters wouldn't be unwelcome."
Matt peered out before jumping out of cover, running for another, "I'll deal with Aragon…deal with that mummy," he called as Aragon swooped after him. Techo and Chris saw a group of Hotep's minions heading for them. "Screw that," said Techo and the two ran after Matt.
Matt, Chris and Techo stopped as they reached the edge of the asteroid they'd been on. "Oh well…plan B," he muttered before turning and yelling. "You call yourself a prince? That's a joke." Aragon stopped, mostly out of shock. "How DARE YOU?" he roared but Matt wasn't done. Chris muttered into Matt's ear, "It's not a good idea to antagonize the flying flamethrower."
Matt ignored Chris and continued, "Most princes I've met weren't petty thieves…you sure you didn't steal the title?" This, as far as Aragon was concerned, was the final straw. He swooped down on Matt, knocking the human backwards into a portal before following him in. Chris and Techo looked in horror before being forced to turn their attention back to Hotep. "Been nice knowing you…" said Techo as Hotep and his minions got ready to attack…and exploded.
"About time…" said Chris with a whoop as the North Star flew overhead, dropping a few Disruptor torpedoes and laser blasts as it went by.
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Matt rolled across a load of grass before stopping. "Ok…that hurt," he moaned, pulling himself up. A fireball just missed turning him into impure charcoal and Matt looked up to see Aragon coming in for another pass. The portal had taken them to a floating plateau complete with several ruins. Aragon landed with a boom in front of him. "Like it here? This is where my family has always fought officially…it seems perfect that I dispatch you here," he said before lunging.
Luckily Matt's experiment enhanced reflexes saved him from death but not from being blasted off of his feet. He came up firing only to have the rounds pass through the ghost dragon and cause a huge explosion. "Well…this could be going better." muttered Matt as Aragon attacked again. Matt ran for one of the ruins, dodging fireballs before an explosion caused by one sent him through a wall. What surprised Matt was the fact that neither he nor the wall was affected. "Cool…weird but cool," he muttered, rubbing his head as the floor was still as hard as usual.
"You can't hide forever," taunted Aragon, circling over the ruins and trying to spot Matt. Matt's distant voice called back, "I'm sure I could if I tried hard enough." Aragon sent a fireball into one of the ruins, blasting it apart. In his hiding place, Matt got a good view of the exploding ruin. "Ok…so I've got the giant ghost dragon away from the others…which is good…the bad part is that now I have to get that amulet off without support…crap, I got to really plan better," he muttered.
He loaded a few explosive rounds into his pistol and ran for another ruin, firing as he went, causing a storm of explosions round Aragon which only made the dragon more angry. "You little bug. Is that the best you have?" he said, swooping at Matt who was forced to dive to the ground or be a shish kebab. Matt fired a few more shots as Aragon flew overhead to no effect. "Smegging flying alligator," he muttered running for another ruin. As Aragon blasted apart another possible cover, Matt began to get an idea and pulled out all his plasma charges…
Aragon looked down into the ruins till he spotted the human coming out. "Fool." He thought, swooping down before grabbing Matt and tossing him a good thirty feet forward. Matt rolled with the attack but he still had to shake the stars from his vision as Aragon dived in for another attack. Aragon watched, half amused, as the human ran back into the ruin.
He blasted the old wooden double doors to dust before heading in to finish off the human. "Now I'll deal with y…eh?" he said, finding only a load of bright blue orbs littering the entire ruin. Some movement behind him got his attention. Aragon spun round to see Matt in the distance, holding a glowing orb of plasma in his hand. Matt pitched the orb in through the doorway, causing the two dozen plasma grenades he'd shut in there to go off like the building had been made of C-4. The whole building went up in a blue fireball. "HAH! TAKE THAT!" called Matt before sitting down in the grass. "Thank goodness that's over." He said to himself, before jumping as an angry roar came from the blasted ruin. "Oh, gimmie a break," he muttered as Aragon came out of the blaze, unphased.
Aragon kept up a volley of fireballs that Matt was just narrowly avoiding. "Isn't this a bit unfair?" asked Matt as he ducked around a rock. "All's fair in war," said Aragon, "though I am a bit sorry that my opponent is someone so easily squashed." "Well, I'm not feeling that great about it myself," said Matt, "maybe if you should fight someone in your own weight class." "Ha!" said Aragon, "not even my own sister could topple me." "Oh yeah?" called a voice. The two of them looked up to see a dragon similar to Aragon only silver and blue coming down from the skies. She opened her mouth and launched a fireball at Aragon, who smacked it away with his tail. The silver dragon landed besides Matt. "You're not gonna eat me, are you?" asked Matt. "No," said the dragon, "I'm Dora, Aragon's sister. He and I have a bit of sibling rivalry with each other." "Oh I know what that's like," said Matt.
Aragon roared and said, "You dare stand against me? Do you not see that I wear the Anarchic Amulet? I am seven times more powerful than you are!" "But you're still the same jerk you've always been for 1600 years," said Dora. "Ooh, good comeback," said Matt. Aragon blasted more dragon fire at them, but Dora had picked up Matt and flew into the air. "The only way to defeat him is removing the Amulet," said Dora to Matt as she evaded more fire blasts, "you think you can do that while I distract him?" "Uh, sure, I think so," said Matt.
Before he could say any more, she swooped backwards and went over Aragon. She dropped Matt onto his back. Matt quickly grabbed hold of the scaly skin and started crawling towards Aragon's neck. Aragon was so busy fighting Dora that he failed to notice Matt's activities. Dora delivered a powerful kick to Aragon's gut that sent the dragon rolling through the air. When he stopped, he growled and said, "Try all you want, I'm still more powerful than you. Eventually you will tire and then I will strike you down!" "Is that any way to talk to your sister?" said a voice. Aragon twisted his head around to see Matt loosening the clasp of the Amulet. Before Aragon could do anything, Matt undid the clasp and the Amulet fell off.
Immediately, Aragon reverted back to his normal form. However, since Aragon was a ghost, he could stay in the air, but Matt couldn't. Matt just managed to save himself by grabbing onto Aragon's boots. "How dare you touch my boots with your filthy hands," snarled Aragon. "Hey, they were filthy long before I got here," said Matt. Aragon started to intangible and said, "Any last requests before your big drop, urchin?" "Sure, can you suddenly contract and bug your eyes out?" "What?" Suddenly Dora grabbed Aragon in her fist, squeezing him tight. She then picked up Matt, abet much more gently. "Thanks for the help," said Matt. "No problem," said Dora, "I've been trying to keep an eye on my brother, but he can be so difficult sometimes." She flew down to get the Anarchic Amulet, which had reduced in size after falling off of Aragon, and said, "Now, don't you need to go back to your friends?" "I think they could use my help," said Matt.
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Meanwhile, Danny and Ghoulwyrm were still exchanging blows in Davy Jones' Locker. Ghoulwyrm had the advantage of size and power, but Danny was just able to keep up with being smaller and faster. "You might as well quit now," said Ghoulwyrm, "by now the full moon should be at its highest point and your sister will have completely transformed by now. You've got nothing left to fight for." "Even if what you said was true," said Danny, "I still have one thing to fight for; payback!" He threw a punch at Ghoulwyrm who caught it with his hand. "Motivation or not, I still have the home field advantage," hissed Ghoulwyrm. Suddenly a portal to the human world opened up nearby. "Not for long," said Danny and sent a freezing blast that coated most of Ghoulwyrm in ice. Then he threw him through the portal and followed close behind him.
By odd coincidence, the portal brought them to a field outside the city limits of the present Amity Park. And night has indeed fallen and the full moon was in the middle of the sky. Danny and Ghoulwyrm skidded across the ground before coming to a stop. Danny got up and said, "Not so tough without so much darkness boosting you up, are you?" Ghoulwyrm got up and said, "Didn't you hear what I said? I said the darkness helped reach my full potential, not maintain it. Not to mention the full moon also works for me. All you've changed is where your grave will be."
The battle continued onwards. But there was a slight difference. Being in the real world helped Danny focus more. He was now using his powers in greater combinations, something that Ghoulwyrm somehow was unable to do. But then again, it could be the sheer ferocity that Danny was dealing. "Your strength is impressive, Ghost Boy," said Ghoulwyrm as he got up from the last attack, "but I believe it can put to greater use than what you're doing. Why, with our combined forces, we can rule both this planet and the Ghost Zone. We'd be an unstoppable force." "Uh, that didn't work with Vlad Plasmius, it won't work with you," said Danny. "Besides, I promised I'd never use my powers for destruction."
Ghoulwyrm shrugged and said, "I expected that response. I just thought it would be fair to offer at first. I much prefer this way." He swatted Danny backward with his arm. Danny hit the ground and skidded back a few yards. As he was getting up, Ghoulwyrm wrapped his tail around Danny's body. "What are you doing?" asked Danny. "Well, like they always say, if you can't beat them, possess them." Ghoulwyrm became transparent as he slowly sank into Danny. He was being gentle about it either as Danny was screaming in pain. "Save your breath, child," hissed Ghoulwyrm, "no one can save you now."
Suddenly a blue wave of sonic energy came out of nowhere and hit Ghoulwyrm. Ghoulwyrm yelped in pain and clapped his hands over his sensitive ears. This gave Danny plenty of time to phase out of Ghoulwyrm's coils. He looked towards the direction the sonic wave came from and was quite surprised. Floating in the air was a werepyre with orange fur and blue eyes and ghostly aura. She was wearing a jumpsuit similar to Danny's, but had no gloves or boots and had shorter sleeves. Not to mention that instead of the 'D' on Danny's chest, she had a motif of a setting sun. "Jazz?" asked Danny. "Actually," said Jazz, "you can call me Jazz Sunset now."
Ghoulwyrm had just recovered from Jazz's attack and had now noticed her. "So, the little ecto-thrall has finally returned to her creator," he said. "What did you call her?" asked Danny. "A thrall, it's a term for those who have been infected with vampirism or lycanthropy, such as your sister. And also, a thrall is the obedient servant of the one who infected it." Suddenly Ghoulwyrm's eyes flashed purple. Jazz writhed a bit and there her eyes turned purple. "Destroy him," commanded Ghoulwyrm. Jazz turned and punched Danny to the ground. As Danny tried to get up, Jazz floated over him with a blue Ghost Ray forming in her hand. "Jazz, don't do this," said Danny. "Sorry, Danny, I have a new master now," said Jazz. Danny waited for the final blow but suddenly Jazz yelled "Psyche!" and turned and blasted Ghoulwyrm. Ghoulwyrm, not expecting the blast, was thrown into the side of a nearby abandoned barn. He growled and said, "Apparently the ectoplasm's overwrote the natural evil of the curse as well as stabled it. That mean neither of you are of any worth to me." Then he sprang at them, ready to fight.
As the fight continued, it soon became apparent that Jazz was almost an equal match-up to Ghoulwyrm. She possessed a ghost's standard flight, invisibility, intangibility, and ghost rays. She also had the strength, speed, and agility her muscular new form suggested and the sharp fangs and claws that came with them. But another power had manifested besides her sonic howls. While trying to slash at Ghoulwyrm, her claws extended to the same length of her hand and glowed blue. She missed Ghoulwyrm, but the air she slashed ripped, revealing a portal to the Ghost Zone. "Weird," commented Danny, "that's like what Wulf does with his claws."
Suddenly Draco and Chip came flying out of the portal. The Fright Knight soon followed after them. "Draco? Chip? What are you doing here?" asked Jazz. "I don't know," said Draco, "we were fighting the Fright Knight, Chip managed to tether the Nightmare to a shipwreck, and then Morph got slashed with the Soul Shredder and disappeared." The Fright Knight chuckled darkly and said, "He has been sent to a pocket dimension where he's forced to live out his worst fear." "Well, he's Morph," said Draco, "how bad could it be?"
Meanwhile, Morph was running as fast as he could, panting heavily. He was being chased by several very creepy-looking marionettes. The marionettes were all holding various murderous weapons; blunt, sharp, and projectile. "What did I do to deserve this?" screamed Morph as more tomahawks imbedded themselves into his back. He regenerated, but it still hurt. He just dodged a volley of arrows from a couple of puppets wearing overalls. Morph managed to squeeze past some bladed pendulums and looked upwards. Holding the strings of the various puppets was a gigantic version of NegaMorph. "Curtain's about to fall, PlasMorph," said NegaMorph, "and you're about to crushed beneath it, unless you want to dance." PlasMorph screamed as more strings started coming down towards him, twisting themselves into nooses as they went. (Author's Note: Surprisingly scary, isn't it?)
So now the field was being fought by the Fright Knight and Draco and Chip. The two experiments were more wary now and were trying their best to avoid the glowing green sword. "Isn't there any way to beat this guy?" asked Draco. Danny managed to pull away from his battle with Ghoulwyrm to whisper something in Draco's ear. "Really?" asked Draco, "It's that simple?" "Yes, just chant the spell and put the sword in a pumpkin," said Danny and he returned to his battle. "Where are we supposed to find a pumpkin?" asked Chip. Suddenly the Fright Knight punched them both and they were sent flying across the field and landed in a pumpkin patch. Chip looked at where they were and said, "Well, this is convenient."
As the Fright Knight came at them, Draco said, "Get the sword away from him, I'll take care of the rest." "I'll try," said Chip, "but I can't guarantee any success." He charged his hands with viral energy and blast the Fright Knight in the chest. The Fright Knight roared and swung the Soul Shredder at Chip. Chip ducked and wrapped one arm around the arm that was holding the sword. He twisted it and the Soul Shredder flew out of the Fright Knight's hand. It went through the air and Draco caught it by the tilt. Before the Fright Knight could free himself, Draco chanted, "To end the storm and cease the fear, the sword must sheath in pumpkin near." Then he buried the sword's blade into the top of a nearby pumpkin.
The sword glowed an even brighter green and the pumpkin grew a jack-o'-lantern's face. It opened its mouth and a powerful sucking wind came out of it. Surprisingly, the only one affect was the Fright Knight. He was dragged into the pumpkin screaming, "NOOOO!" The pumpkin and the sword vanished after he entered and left a shivering PlasMorph in their place. "You okay?" asked Draco. "Were you the one who let me out?" asked Morph. "Yes." Morph grabbed Draco in a tight hug and yelled, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
Meanwhile, the battle between Ghoulwyrm and the Fenton siblings had grown quite fierce. Ghoulwyrm, seeing as neither of the Fentons were going to be of use to him, had resolved to destroy them both. Particularly Jazz, as she was a mistake that needed to be removed. He was still at full power from his stay in Davy Jones' Locker, not to mention the full moon energizing him. Eventually he managed to wrap up Danny his bandages and moved on to deal with Jazz. "You can't defeat me, girl," hissed Ghoulwyrm, "I created you, and I can undo that very easily. How fitting you name yourself Sunset, as I am about to bring about the end of your wretched life."
Then Jazz looked behind Ghoulwyrm and said, "You've forgotten one thing Ghoulwyrm. For every sunset, there's a sunrise!" Ghoulwyrm looked behind and as he did, the sun came up over the horizon, bathing the field with light. Ghoulwyrm screamed as the sunlight hit him. His tentacles and spikes were actually smoking in the presence of the ultraviolet radiation. He shrieked in pain as he looked for a place to hide. Fortunately for him, the abandoned barn created enough shade to hide in. He threw himself into the shadow of the barn and out of the sunlight. Once there, his body changed back to what it was before his full potential had been unlocked.
He glared at the Fentons and stepped out of the shadow. Although he didn't smoke anymore, he was visibly weaker and he wasn't floating. "My powers may not be able to work properly in the daylight," he said, "but they're still more than enough to destroy you." He threw some lightning bolts and fireballs, but they were mere sparks compared to what he used before. Danny blasted them aside and said, "Let's finish this guy off." "Gladly," said Jazz. They both took in a deep breath and unleashed their Ghostly Wail and Howl, respectively. Ghoulwyrm tried to counter with his own sonic howl, but the stronger soundwaves easily beat through them and hit Ghoulwyrm. Ghoulwyrm was thrown backwards several yards and skidded to a stop in the middle of the field. Then Jazz landed besides him and pointed a Fenton Thermos at him. "Back to the crypt for you," she said and blasted Ghoulwyrm with the Thermos' anti-Ghoulwyrm energy. As Ghoulwyrm was sucked into the Thermos, he shouted, "I will have my revenge, Jazz Sunset!"
As Jazz placed the lid back over the Thermos, Danny said, "Wow, normally it's me that bad guys swear vengeance on as they're defeated." "What can I say," said Jazz, "I'm just as good a superhero as you are." "Uh, I think you still have a ways to go before that," said Danny, "also, I don't think you'll catch on as fast as me. Werepyres aren't as socially acceptable as ghosts. How are you going to change back anyways?" "I don' really know," said Jazz, "I was hoping it would be like your transformations. But I don't think it's just as simple."
Suddenly Danny felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked to see Draco, Chip, and Morph. "Uh, I hate to break up this brother/sister moment," said Chip, "but I think we need to get back to the others." "Let me handle that," said Jazz and she slashed open a portal with her claws. No sooner had she done that, Matt came out riding on Dora. "Not there's something you don't see everyday," said Draco. Matt looked over at Jazz and said, "Your sister, I presume?" "Yeah," said Danny, "we caught Ghoulwyrm, but now we need to figure out how to turn her human again." "I think I can help with that," said Dora, pointing to the Anarchic Amulet she was wearing. "One of the Anarchic Amulet's powers is to create new Amulets. I could probably create something that could help." "We'll discuss that on the way," said Danny, "but first, we need to bring the artifacts back to Frostbite." And so the group of them went back through the portal into the Ghost Zone.
Man, was that a long chapter. My co-author added the part with Prince Aragon in the middle. As for Jazz's werepyre form, I'll try to draw it the best that I can, but I can't guarantee any great art. I wouldn't mind if someone tried to do that for me. By the way, if you're wondering why Morph found Skulker's outcry familiar, it's because he has the same voice actor as Gantu. Anyways, there's one more chapter after this and it'll be a lot smaller. Keep an eye out for it and please review.